Wilson Sonsini is synonymous with the Silicon Valley culture and routinely deck out their attorneys with the latest and greatest in legal technology. Unfortunately for Wilson Sonsini, they are also, at root, a group of lawyers, meaning they suffer from the profession’s innate Ludditeness. After investing in a number of tech tools to assist their corporate practice areas and watching them die on the vine from disuse, the firm’s taking an innovative approach to get people onboard: giving them vacations.
The firm has set aside $100K in travel awards (plus the appropriate tax gross ups) to employees who can successfully get the firm to adopt their new technologies. The firm recently sent out a memo seeking bids from “Special Ops” groups with a plan to bolster adoption with a hefty prize at the end when and if those groups meet their targets.
As Wilson’s Corporate Strategic Innovation Counsel, David Wang put it:
Our core business is representing the most innovative companies in the world. This initiative is one example of a comprehensive effort to deliver value to clients by using the most efficient and innovative business processes and technologies.
It’s a smart idea that more firms should consider. As we’ve been discussing all week in the aftermath of ILTACON, there are some great tech solutions out there to help firms deliver legal services quicker and better and the only thing holding this profession back is a recalcitrant user base.
Maybe some vacation time can light a fire under us all.
(Full WSGR memo on the next page if you’re considering cribbing it for your own firm…)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
